| 1982 El Salvador earthquake | |
| Timestamp: | 1982-06-19 06:21:58 |
| Isc-Event: | 597450 |
| Anss-Url: | iscgem597450 |
| Local-Time: | 00:21:58 |
| Duration: | 25 s (shaking felt) |
| Magnitude: | 7.3[1] |
| Depth: | 730NaN0 |
| Location: | 13.33°N -89.39°W |
| Affected: | El Salvador |
| Damages: | $5 million |
| Landslide: | Yes |
| Casualties: | 16–43 dead |
The 1982 El Salvador earthquake occurred southeast of San Salvador on 19 June at 00:21 local time (06:21 UTC). This undersea earthquake struck offshore in the Pacific Ocean and had a surface wave magnitude of 7.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Occurring adjacent to a subduction zone at the Middle America Trench, this normal-slip shock left at least 16 and as many as 43 people dead, and many injured, and also inflicted $5 million in damage.
See also: Central America Volcanic Arc.
Near the Salvadorian coast, the Cocos plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean plate at the Middle America Trench. This earthquake was an intra-slab, normal-slip subduction earthquake in the subducting plate. The subduction zone and a local system of faults along the volcanic chain are two major sources of the earthquakes in El Salvador.
See also: Extensional tectonics.
The mechanism of this earthquake had many similarities with the El Salvador earthquake of 13 January 2001.
The intensity in San Salvador reached VII (Very strong).[2] The most affected cities are San Salvador, Ahuachapán, Concepción de Ataco, Comasagua, San Miguel, San Pedro Nonualco, and San Juan Tepezontes.[3] This earthquake could be felt in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, with intensities V (Moderate) in Guatemala City, Guatemala, IV (Light) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, V in Managua, Nicaragua, and III (Weak) in San José, Costa Rica.[4] [5]